Vasubandhu, detail © Himalayan Art Collection

Curriculum of Study
for Bodhi Path Centers

Compiled by Shamar Rinpoche

This curriculum is taught in all Bodhi Path centers and should be undertaken with the guidance of a qualified teacher.


Ground Knowledge of the Buddhist View on Facts

  1. The Five Aggregates
  2. The Eighteen Mental Seeds
  3. The Twelve Sources of Sense, with the support of the Sautrantika Philosophy
  4. The Twelve Links of Interdependence, with the support of Madhyamaka Philosophy (Middle Way Philosophy)
  5. Karma & The Explanation of the Six Causes and Four Conditions
  6. The Four Noble Truths (in detail) according to the Abhidharmakosha (Compendium of Higher Knowledge of Phenomena)
  7. The Twenty-two Faculties according to the Abhidharmakosha
  8. The Relative and Absolute Truth according to the Uma Gyen (The Ornament of Madhyamaka by Shantarakshita)
  9. The Three Yanas and the Five Paths
  10. The Composed and the Non-Composed

Buddhist Ethics

  1. Refuge vow and Bodhisattva vow
  2. Letter to a Friend by Nagarjuna
  3. Recalling the Qualities of Three Jewels Sutra

Meditation

  1. Chapter Eight of the Abhidharmakosha (Compendium of Higher Knowledge of Phenomena) on The States of Meditative Concentration, simplified version
  2. Chapter Seven of the Abhidharmakosha on Wisdom, simplified version
  3. The Commentary on the Remembrance of the Three Jewels by Taranatha
  4. Chapter Four of the Jewel Ornament of Liberation: “The Refuge Vow, The Precepts of The Bodhisattva Vow, the Six Paramitas,” etc.
  5. Chapter Five of the Jewel Ornament of Liberation: “The Result: Buddhahood”
  6. Practice of the Bodhisattva Wish, according to the Commentary on Wishing Prayer of the Arya Samantabhadra
  7. Lojong Practice: Seven Point Mind Training, according to the Commentary written by the present Shamar Rinpoche Mipham Chokyi Lodrö